With Halloween well and truly behind us, we now look ahead to Christmas, and, more importantly (from the gaming calendar’s perspective, at least), to the Game Awards.
Generally speaking, if companies have big announcements to make, those announcements will be made at big events; think Gamescom, the Summer Game Fest shows, and the Game Awards, among others.
As such, you might expect things to start slowing down a little now, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s been happening; far from it, in fact. Here’s our latest roundup of the week in gaming news!
Bungie shares its first major Marathon update
Bungie’s Marathon reboot was announced last year, but since then, we haven’t heard much from the project; Bungie said it wanted to go “dark” while it developed the game.
This week, we got our first update on how development is going, although it’s fair to say we perhaps didn’t get quite as much information as we might have wanted from the show.
According to Bungie, the game will play like a relatively typical extraction shooter, although it’ll have the “creepiness” of the original Marathon as well. We’ll learn more next year, apparently.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is getting a remaster
One of the Wii U’s most underrated games is arguably Xenoblade Chronicles X, a brave spinoff of the core Xenoblade Chronicles series that sees humanity trying to colonise a new planet.
Well, that game’s getting itself a Switch remaster in the form of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, which is landing on Switch in March next year.
It’ll come with all the usual remaster trimmings: new visuals, new story elements, and a whole bunch of smaller quality-of-life improvements to bring the game into the modern era. We’re excited to give this one another go!
Microsoft says Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set records for the series
According to Microsoft, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s launch was the biggest ever for the series, although the company stopped short of explaining exactly how that’s the case.
As Eurogamer sets out in its article, Black Ops 6 apparently attracted more subscribers to Game Pass on launch day than any other game, and it also set a “record for day one players”.
Sadly, Microsoft didn’t share any numbers, so we don’t know exactly how much more popular Black Ops 6 was than any other Call of Duty game.
Wolverine’s creative director is now working on Perfect Dark
As you may well already know, Insomniac is currently working on a Wolverine game, set in the same universe as its Spider-Man titles.
Well, a reboot-slash-reimagining of long-running first-person shooter series Perfect Dark is currently also in the works, and Wolverine’s creative director is now apparently working on Perfect Dark instead.
Work on Wolverine will now be helmed by Marcus Smith and Mike Daly, while former Wolverine creative head Brian Horton will be heading up Perfect Dark instead. Hopefully, this will ensure that both games have a smoother ride in development.
Nintendo announces a new music app
This week, Nintendo announced a major new streaming app through which you can listen to music from across many of its games, and it’s called – appropriately enough – Nintendo Music.
The app features music from the likes of The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Metroid, and it’s only available to Switch Online members right now.
Nintendo says new music will be added to the app periodically, and you can listen to individual soundtracks or build playlists of your own depending on what kind of mood strikes you.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t getting any story DLC
A new interview with Dragon Age: The Veilguard creative director and BioWare veteran John Epler this week confirmed that there won’t be any single-player DLC for the game.
According to Rolling Stone, BioWare’s attention is now focused fully on the next Mass Effect instalment, which we also know won’t feature stylised graphics like Veilguard’s.
Of course, we still don’t know when we will see that game, nor do we even know what kind of story it’s going to tell, but hopefully, we’ll learn more in due course.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater probably isn’t coming out this year
As various outlets noted this week, we’re fast coming up on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater’s promised release window expiring, but we’re no closer to a release date for the game.
According to a PlayStation Blog from earlier this year, the Snake Eater remake was set to arrive sometime in 2024, but since we’re in early November and we still don’t have a release date, that’s probably not going to happen.
We’d be surprised if we didn’t hear something from Konami about the game at this year’s Game Awards ceremony, but that’s still a ways off.
Apex Legends isn’t on Linux any more
Are you someone who likes to play Apex Legends on Linux platforms, or, indeed, on Steam Deck? Unfortunately, this isn’t your week if you do fit that description.
According to a post by EA and Respawn this week, the developers are dropping Linux support from Apex Legends in order to combat the cheating problem that has become rampant within the game.
If you’re running Windows on your Steam Deck, you will, of course, still be able to enjoy Apex Legends, but we would imagine the number of players to whom this applies is vanishingly small.
Alan Wake 2 still hasn’t made its money back
If you’re wondering why big studios don’t often take risks on more creative single-player projects as opposed to bigger live-service multiplayer gambles, look no further than Remedy’s Alan Wake 2.
A financial report by the studio this week states that Alan Wake 2 still hasn’t made its money back, although it has apparently recouped “most” of its development and marketing expenses, which is progress, at the very least.
Here’s hoping that when Remedy releases Control 2 and its upcoming Max Payne remakes, those projects take a little less time to rake in some cash.
